For centuries, the world has been looking at a map that makes Africa appear far smaller than it really is. That could now change after the United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution calling for a new world map that gives a more accurate picture of the size of the continent.
The resolution, known as “Correct the Map”, was put forward by Togo and received strong backing from African Union (AU) members.
A total of 164 countries on Friday supported the proposal, including France and the United Kingdom.
The United States was the only country to vote against it, while six countries chose not to take a position.
The decision by the UN General Assembly is not binding, meaning countries and organisations are not legally required to immediately change the maps they use. However, the vote is expected to encourage institutions around the world to move towards maps that better show the actual size of continents.
At the centre of the debate is the Mercator projection, a map that has been widely used since the 16th Century.
The map has faced criticism because of the way it presents the size of different parts of the world. Africa, for example, appears to be close in size to Greenland on the Mercator projection.
In reality, Africa is about 14 times larger than Greenland.
The difference has raised concerns among campaigners and other supporters of a new map, who argue that the way Africa is displayed can affect how people understand the continent.
They say the picture created by the Mercator projection can make the development needs, resources and potential of countries around the equator appear less important than they are.
The Mercator map was created in 1569 by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator. Its main purpose was to help European explorers navigate around the world.
Its unusual presentation of land sizes comes from the challenge of putting the Earth, which has a curved surface, onto a flat sheet of paper or a two-dimensional screen.
There is no way to create a completely accurate flat world map without making some changes to the shape, size or position of land.
The Mercator projection deals with this problem by making areas close to the equator appear smaller while enlarging areas closer to the poles.
This means countries and regions near the top and bottom of the map can look much bigger than they are compared with places around the equator.
A different approach was developed in 2018 when a group of cartographers created what they called the Equal Earth projection.
Unlike the Mercator map, the Equal Earth projection was designed as an equal-area map, allowing the relative size of continents to be shown more accurately.
The African Union’s 54 member states adopted the Equal Earth projection in February.
At the time, the AU said the map “more accurately represents the sizes of all continents, particularly Africa”.
The campaign to change the way Africa is presented has also attracted support from the online group #CorrectTheMap.
The group has pointed to the huge size of Africa compared with other parts of the world, saying: “You could fit the United States, China, India, Japan, Mexico and much of Europe into Africa and still have land to spare.”
Togo has been at the centre of the push for the change.
Before Friday’s vote, Togolese Foreign Minister Robert Dussey told the Reuters news agency: “A fair world begins with a fair map.”
Dussey had earlier used a UN briefing to explain why he believes the issue is about more than cartography.
“A map is never neutral. It shapes perceptions, influences how the place of peoples and continents in the world is understood,” he said.
France also backed the campaign, with Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot saying his ministry would stop using the Mercator projection.
He acknowledged that changing a map would not change the realities of the world, but said correcting the way those realities are represented was important.
“Changing the map obviously doesn't change the world. But correcting a representation that distorts it is already an act of truth,” he said.
The proposal, however, faced opposition from the United States.
Yaryna Ferencevych, a US representative at the UN, criticised the resolution and questioned whether the General Assembly should be spending its time on the issue.
She said the proposal took attention away from matters she considered more important to the work of the global body.
“Instead of focusing on genuine problems of international peace, prosperity, or good relations, this body is debating map projects from the 16th Century, and their role in promoting reparations and 'cognitive justice',” she said.
The disagreement comes after another clash between the US and the UN over a resolution adopted in March that described the transatlantic slave trade as “the gravest crime against humanity”.
For campaigners pushing for a new map, however, the issue goes beyond lines, shapes and sizes on a piece of paper.
Lerato Mogoatlhe, from Africa No Filter, one of the organisations involved in the campaign against continued use of the Mercator projection, said the way Africa has been shown to the world has helped create a wider problem in how the continent is viewed.
“Africa's misrepresentation on world maps is not just a cartographic error - it's a narrative issue,” she told the BBC.
Mogoatlhe said the campaign was part of a wider effort to challenge what she called the “world's longest misinformation and disinformation” about Africa.
The argument has also been taken up by Kenyan geographer Kioko Muendo, who said the way the continent is presented on maps can affect how people view its importance and opportunities.
Muendo said the Mercator projection has indirectly reduced the way people see Africa’s huge resources, population and investment opportunities.
“Maps are more than just guides for travellers - they shape how regions are perceived politically and economically,” he told the BBC.
The UN vote therefore gives fresh backing to efforts to move away from the centuries-old Mercator projection and towards maps that provide a clearer comparison of the size of Africa and other continents.
While the resolution does not force governments, schools, organisations or mapmakers to immediately adopt a different projection, the vote gives the campaign international support and could lead to wider use of maps that show Africa closer to its actual size.